I’ve noticed trend for elaborate gender reveals of late, and I have a confession:
I can’t stand them.
I’m not talking about the videos of people telling their kids about their new baby brother or sister; that’s quite cute, even if it involves a pink or blue cake (as long as the cake gets eaten, that’s fine. Do not get me started on cake smashes, please – suffice to say I do not endorse cake wastage) and especially when it involves the child being comically enraged that their sibling will be the wrong gender.
I’m evil, I accept that.
I’ve (obviously) never been to a gender reveal party.
It seems like an odd concept to me, but there is apparently a whole business sector dedicated to helping you to throw a party, selling everything from balloons to scratchcards so that your nearest and dearest can find out whether you’re expecting a Martha or an Arthur, a Doris or a Morris, an Maeve or a Dave (it’s a shame I never had twins really, my rhyming names have gone to waste).
But I’m not really referring to those. A little self-indulgent perhaps, but I guess if that floats your boat, and people want to come, then why not…
No, what I’m on about is the type of gender reveal that is constructed and filmed purely for YouTube viral video fodder.
One such gender reveal cropped up on my timeline the other day.
It was basically a complex marble run set up around someone’s entire house.
I’ve seen one with coloured ‘lava’ spewing out of a volcano. My friend said she saw a video shared that was a big scavenger hunt resulting in a pink or blue balloon release – who knows, because like me, she didn’t make it to the end. They seem to be taking over the internet and I don’t understand why.
Here are the reasons that I find elaborate gender reveals a bit naff;
1) If you’re not bothered about the sex of your baby, it seems a strange thing to invest so much time in.
If on the other hand you have even the smallest preference, and I daresay however un-PC it may be that a lot of people do, why find out in front of millions of internet strangers if there is a 50% chance you are going to feel a deeply personal pang of disappointment?
2) No one apart from the couple really care
Number one of course assumes that the couple are the people finding out; I do kind of get this. Finding out the gender of your own baby is enormously exciting, if something that can be done within five minutes at a scan.
However when the couple already know and this big reveal is for the benefit of others? Please don’t take this the wrong way, but no one apart from you, your immediate family and perhaps friends who are hoping to offload hand-me-downs really cares if your baby is a boy or a girl. They are just happy for you that your baby is healthy.
3) There are only two options
If it’s a hippo or a weasel, come talk to me. Otherwise, it’s a boy or a girl and you’re basically going to get the same response for either (Oh how lovely!) unless you have two or more of one gender already and then the responses are going to annoy you (‘Oh, bad luck, you can always try again!’ or perhaps ‘Now you have your girl/boy you can stop!’).
4) The effort involved is insane
Who has the energy to do this at 20 weeks pregnant?
The voluntary setting up and – moreover – tidying of an assault course around one’s house is just flabbergasting.
Sit down, get your feet up, have a (decaf) brew, watch TV and tell people via Facebook like a normal person. Your house is going to be full of crap from 20 weeks’ time until eternity so why start now?
5) It can be wrong
I have two friends who have both been told they were expecting girls at the 20 week scan and then have gone on to have boys. What a wasted effort that would be.
Give it 20 more weeks, and you’ll have the best kind of gender reveal, and it’ll definitely be accurate.
Well, it probably will be, but the sex of the baby doesn’t always accurately predict its gender either, rendering the whole thing a bit daft.
Oh, I concede they are not harming anyone, unless you count the risk of repetitive eye rolling injury. I feel the same towards stop motion pregnancy videos and yet 50 million people watch them on YouTube. FIFTY MILLION. I suspect I’m in the minority, but demanding strangers celebrate your offspring’s teeny tiny genitals just seems a bit of a weird thing to do. Right?
This is a thing now?!?! Please tell me it isn't. I must be a massive grump as I don't even like baby showers. Or finding out the gender at the scan (totally personal view I realise). But a party to reveal the gender – get a grip people!! x
Everything is a bloody show now. Personally I wouldn't have the energy not that I would be finding out because waiting until splash down was the best most exciting thing ever! Let's keep the mystery alive!
I have to agree, when did this become a thing? I am not a fan of even fidning out before. Of course totally personal choice but not knowing what we were having was the nicest suprise ever! Very little things in life left unknown these days. 🙂
Oh this irritates me too. Even the baby announcement ones annoy me. It grates with me because it all seems so showy and contrived. I don't think having a baby should be about showing off to everyone else – in many ways, it's a private occasion where you think about how your life is about to change and start trying to get prepared. You don't need to shout it out to the whole world – nobody else is actually that interested… except maybe they are because loads of people watch these videos, so maybe it's just that I'm grumpy! haha. Ah well – I can live with that! #blogcrush
I'm so glad this wasn't a thing when I had my kids. When I was expecting my first you couldn't even find out the gender, and we didn't have internet…ah those wer the days! As for cake smashing, I used to make and decorate cakes and put a LOT of time and effort into them…why on earth would anyone want that effort smashed up by some baby on their birthday…no, cut them a slice and let them eat it, I can just about bear that.
#Blogcrush
Gotta admit we did a gender reveal this time around…heh…it was actually really fun. We didn't know what we were going to have, but I got to shoot my other half with a paintball gun…so it felt a little bit like payback for the pain I'll be enduring in September haha! But that was as far as I was willing to go for the effort lol.
I agree with the cake smash, what a waste and a mess! Teaching your kids not to throw food on the floor and then letting them smush themselves into a cake??! And it doesn't even get eaten! Wasted.
I think they’re wonderful things. I get that some people aren’t into them and that’s a-okay, but hey, it’s a fun reason to have a party and if you’re feeling up to that when pregnant, then why not? Plus it’s a great way to bring people together to celebrate this new incoming life, but without the pressure of presents or a gift registry.
It is definitely a cultural thing. It is (or, was until very recently) very un-British to celebrate in such an OTT way. I think that’s why I hate the idea so much! Since I put this post on Pinterest I’ve had a lot of traffic from America, I was wondering when I’d get my first comment 😉 x
There can also be those babies that are of indeterminate sex. The 20 week scan is an anomoly scan to check for major abnormalities, not for you to plan a gender reveal.
Blooming heck another party I don’t get invited to…..I’m so glad .